All cultural values of Ukraine are covered by the scope of the Law of Ukraine No. 1068-XIV of 21.09.1999 "On Exportation, Importation and Restiution of Cultural Values", amended 13.02.2020. According to Art. 1 of this law, "cultural values" are defined as "objects of material and spiritual culture, having artistic, historic, ethnographic and scientific significance and that are subject to preservation, renovation, and protection according to the legislation of Ukraine". Namely:
- Original artistic works of painting, graphics and sculpture, artistic compositions and assemblages from different kinds of material, works of traditional folk arts and crafts;
- Objects, pertaining to historic events, development of society and state, history of sience and culture as well as those, pertaining to life and activity of prominent national figures, political parties, public and religious organizations, science culture and arts;
- Objects of museum value, found during archeological digs;
- Constituting parts anf fragments of architectual, historic, artistic heritage and workd of monumental art;
- Ancient books and other editions of historic, artistic, scientific and literary value, separate or as part of a collection;
- Manuscripts or incunabula, first prints, archival documents, including cine-, photo- and phonodocuments, separate or as part of a collection;
- Unique or rare musical instruments;
- Different typs of weapons of artistic, historic, ethnographic and scientific value;
- Rare postage stamps and other philatelistic materials, separate or as a part of a collection;
- Rare coins, decorations, medals, stamps and other objects of collecting;
- Zoological collections and scientific, cultural and educational, teaching or esthetical value;
- Rare collections and specimen of flora and fauna, mineralogy, anatomy and paleontology;
According to Art.3 of the Law of Ukraine No. 1068-XIV of 21.09.1999 "On Exportation, Importation and Restiution of Cultural Values" "cultural values" of Ukraine are:
- Cultural values, produced on the territory of Ukraine by the citizens of Ukraine;
- Cultural values, produced on the territory of Ukraine by foreigners or persons without citizenship, residing permanently or having resided on the territory of Ukraine;
- Cultural values, discovered on the territory of Ukraine;
- Cultural values, imported to Ukraine and obtained by archeological, archeographic, scientific and other expeditions with consent of relevant bodies of the country of origin of the mentioned values;
- Cultural values, imported to Ukraine, obtained as a result of voluntary exchange;
- Cultural values, imported to Ukraine granted or obtained with consent of the relevant bodies of the country of origin of the mentioned values;
- Illegally exported cultural values of Ukraine, being outside its territory;
- Cultural values, evacuated from the territory of Ukraine during wars, armed conflicts and not being returned;
- Cultural values, temporarily exported from Ukraine and not returned to Ukraine;
- Cultural values, displaced on the territory of Ukraine as a result of the Second World War as a partial compensation for damages, inflicted by the invaders.
Cultural values that are transferred across the Customs border of Ukraine can be divided into three
groups:
- Cultural values denied to be exported, i.e. a general export ban applies;
- Cultural values that are restricted from being (temporarily) exported, i.e. an export authorisation is necessary;
- Cultural objects that are free to be transferred (across the border), no authorisation ior permit s necessary;
According to Art. 14 of the Law of Ukraine No. 1068-XIV of 21.09.1999 "On Exportation, Importation and Restiution of Cultural Values" the following cultural values are no subject to exportation from Ukraine, i.e. a general export ban applies to:
- Cultural values, inscribed to the State Register of Naional Cultural Heritage;
- Cultural values, inscribed to thr National Archive Fund;
- Cultural values, inscribed to the Museum Fund of Ukraine.
According to Art. 23 of the above mentioned Law "On Exportation, Importation and Restitution of Cultural Values" temporary exportation of cultural values may be conducted:
- for the arrangement of exhibitions;
- for conducting restoration works and scientific researches;
- in connection with theater, concert and other artistic activity;
- in other cases, envisaged by the legislation of Ukraine.
Those cultural values, which were temporarily exported from Ukraine and were not returned within the term specified in the provided certificate, are considered unlawfully exported.
Pursuant to Art. 22 of the Law of Ukraine No. 249/95-BP of 29.06.1995 "On Museums and Museum Affairs", there is a general ban on the export of museum collections belonging to the state part of the museum inventory of Ukraine as well as objects of museum value belonging to the state part of the museum inventory of Ukraine.
According to Art. 40 of the Law of Ukraine No. 3814-XII of 24.12.1993 "On the National Archive Funds and Archive Institutions", documents belonging to the National Archive Fund are subject to an export ban. Exceptions apply to exhibitions, scientific research, restoration and authenticity regulations.
The export from Ukraine of copies of The Archival Fund of Ukraine and extracts belonging thereto, made in accordance with the procedure established by law and certified by the owner of the documents or a person authorised by him, shall be carried out freely by the owner of such copies and extracts or a person authorised by him.
The export of copies of documents containing state secrets and other secrets recognised by the state, as well as extracts from such documents, is strictly prohibited.
Cultural values restricted from being exported and thus being transferred across the Customs boardes of Ukraine, can only be exported with the appropriate authorisation by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. For more information on export authorisation see below.
Cultural objects that are free to be transferred do not necessitate any certificates, autorisations or permits. The main group of such objects are consumer goods of mass and serial production, created after 1950. The objects are listed in Attachment No. 1 of No.258 of 22.04.2002, namely:
- Cultural objects temporarily imported into Ukraine that have a customs declaration issued in accordance with the established procedure when importing (transferring) these objects into Ukraine.
- Works of contemporary art, objects of folk arts and crafts, souvenirs purchased in the trade networks.
- Painting, small shape plastics, author's graphics, tapestries, products of decorative and applied art from ceramics, porcelain, faience, glass, wood, metal, textiles and other materials, created after 1950.Domestic and foreign household items of mass and serial production, created after 1950, including:
- furniture (individual items and sets);
- factory and handmade carpets, carpet and textile products of various types;
- costume items and additional details;
- tableware and other items made of glass, crystal, porcelain, faience, ceramics, majolica, wood, papier-mâché, etc .;
- jewelry of serial and mass production made of base metals and semi-precious stones;
- toys made of stones, straw, metal, plastic. - Modern religious items of different confessional affiliation, icons made with the use of the printer, as well as crosses, lamps, candlesticks and other religious items of massive production.
- Items of technology:
- cars, motorcycles, bicycles and other vehicles of no significant historical value;
- watches (wrist, floor, wall, etc.) made after 1950;
- modern models of airplanes, cars, ships and other types of equipment;
- gramophones and records (starting with N 285 for "MONO" plates and with N 739 for "STEREO" plates), manufactured after 1960 - Printed works published after 1945, including:
- separately published works, collective works, collective works of various authors, popular science literature; literature for children;
- periodicals, music, cartographic, pictorial publications, brochures, advertising publications;
- publications exported by their authors;
- reference books for applicants to higher education institutions and single-volume language dictionaries;
- modern reprint and facsimile editions;
- all publications and information on any media that are sent by state libraries, libraries of scientific
- societies and public organizations, museums in accordance with international book exchange and interstate interlibrary exchange;
- replicable printed graphics (reproductions, lithographs, prints, posters, calendars, postcards, envelopes, etc.), photo albums and photo products for souvenir purposes, etc. - Musical instruments in the presence of one of the following documents: factory passport, sales- receipt, invoice, label on the instrument, etc., made after 1950, incl
- factory serial domestic and foreign production;
- factory made mechanical and electro musical instruments
- Postage stamps of Ukraine: postage stamps and blocks, marked postal envelopes and marked postal cards (artistic and standard) issued after 1991;
- Personal awards when citizens move to a permanent place of residence of other states in the presence of order books or award certificates;
- State awards of Ukraine made using precious metals and/or precious stones, the export procedure of which is approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 677 of 21.06. 2001;
- Badges, commemorative signs, table medals, commemorative and jubilee coins, banknotes, that are not a means of payment (except for domestic and foreign coins made of precious and nonprecious metals, paper banknotes until 1960 (inclusive).
According to Art. 201 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine No. 2341-III of 05.04.2001, smuggling of cultural values is punishable by imprisonment between three to seven years. The same offence is punishable by five to twelve years imprisonment and deprivation of property if it is committed in conjunction with the preliminary conspiracy of a group of persons or a person who has already been convicted of smuggling, or if it is committed by an official person using an official position.
